Google's YouTube is talking to movie studios -- Lions Gate, Sony and Warner Bros are mentioned -- about streaming new movies for a rental fee, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The new service would compete with Apple, Amazon and Netflix, among others. Some movies might also be free with adverts. The story says:

People familiar with the matter say that new movie rentals are likely to be around $3.99, the price Apple Inc.'s iTunes charges for new movie rentals. The companies hope to keep pricing on par with what consumers pay for video-on-demand for new titles, these people say.

The Journal warns that: "Negotiations are continuing and there are no guarantees a deal will be struck."

However, the story also quotes a YouTube spokesman saying that the company is always working to expand on "its great relationships with movie studios and on the selection and types of videos we offer our community".

YouTube loses money, so it makes sense for it to try paid-for movies. And once it has your credit card details, it will find it easier to sell you other things as well.

Since new movies are already available online in pirated versions, it also makes sense for the studios to expand the number of legal, paid-for services. The cash would help offset the decline in DVD sales, which the story says are expected to fall by about $850 million this year to $12.9 billion.

Whether new movies would be available outside the US is another matter. A lot of today's "torrenting" seems to be driven by viewers outside the US, who don't want to wait for the official regional availability of new movies and TV series. However, the movies studios probably aren't ready to move to global marketing to a global internet.